AMBER DUBOIS - 15 yo (2009) - Escondido CA

Authorities have discovered the skeletal remains of Amber Dubois,
the 14-year-old girl who disappeared last year on her way to Escondido
High School.Police had re-focused attention on the case this
week after a registered sex offender was arrested in the murder of
Chelsea King, a high school senior from nearby Poway.


Amber's remains were discovered Saturday afternoon in a remote area near Pala
in northern San Diego County, Escondido Police Chief Jim Maher said.
Investigators
were following up on an unspecified lead and did not say if her death
is connected to Chelsea King's. John Albert Gardner, 30, faces murder
charges in that potential death penalty case.

The remains of Amber DuBois, a 14-year-old San Diego,
California-area girl who was missing for more than a year, have been
found, police said Sunday. Human skeletal remains found early
Saturday in Pala -- a rural, rugged area in northern San Diego County,
California -- have been positively identified as those of DuBois,
Police Chief Jim Maher of Escondido, California, said at a news
conference. DuBois was last seen walking alone to school on February 13, 2009. Her family lives in Escondido, a suburb of San Diego. Maher did not take questions at the brief news conference, saying the investigation of DuBois' death is ongoing. "Any detail, no matter how slight, would be inappropriate at this time," he said. The investigation is being handled by Escondido police, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, and the FBI. Amber
DuBois' parents, who police said were notified of their daughter's
found remains Saturday, attended the press conference. "We'd like to
thank everybody involved in the search for Amber... and above all, our
huge volunteer corps," her father, Moe DuBois, said. "They are the most
dedicated people you can ever imagine." "Without them we cannot have done anything," he said. Authorities
said last week they were investigating John Albert Gardner III, who
pleaded not guilty Wednesday to raping and murdering Chelsea King -- another San Diego-area teen -- to determine whether he was connected to Amber DuBois' disappearance. "We
have been working closely with San Diego Sheriff's Office, and our
investigators are working with theirs in case there is a connection,"
Lt. Robert Benton with the Escondido Police Department said last week.
"We are involved in the daily briefings on the King investigation." Amber DuBois' father attended Gardner's arraignment on Wednesday.
Maher did not mention any suspects during his brief news conference Sunday.

another tragic end to a missing child case. thank you tom - for keeping us updated. i hope the family somehow knows how we have taken amber to our hearts this past year - and that we at J4C have thought about her and prayed for them during this time. I just wish it would have had a different outcome.

oviedo45 wrote:another tragic end to a missing child case. thank you tom - for keeping us updated. i hope the family somehow knows how we have taken amber to our hearts this past year - and that we at J4C have thought about her and prayed for them during this time. I just wish it would have had a different outcome.

---My sentiments exactly. We were one of the featured sites on her internet search site page. I feel for Mo, her Mom and all the family. They were just so hopeful. I am betting that Gardner spilled the beans to get himself a "no death penalty" deal. I am not sure if that's a fair trade-off or what?

Poster's Note: Well, so much for that theory...

Accused killer John Albert Gardner III had nothing to do with the
tip that led law enforcement to Amber Dubois’ remains, according to a
local private investigator who worked on the case.

Bill Garcia, hired by Amber’s family shortly after she disappeared,
said he was told by a person with first-hand knowledge that the tip
about the location of the remains did not come from Gardner, who was
charged Wednesday with the rape and murder of Chelsea King, 17, of
Poway.

“The entire Chelsea King event emotionally pulled at somebody who
had this information,” Garcia said. “They’ve seen the community in a
lot of pain. Someone who had been afraid to say something finally came
forward.”

Amber was 14 when she disappeared the morning of Feb. 13, 2009, as
she was walking to Escondido High School. Her body was found Saturday
in the Pala area of North County, authorities announced today.

Garcia said he’s long suspected Amber's body might be found in the
Pala area, because any abductor would have wanted to get away from
high-traffic areas quickly, and rural routes out of Escondido lead to
the Pauma Valley.

“We’ve spent a lot of time in the past year, working that canyon,”
Garcia said. “You put yourself in the mindset of someone who would
perpetrate this crime, and all the indicators point in that direction.
It’s no mystery to me that’s where she was found.”

He said his “suspicion” is that the remains were found in the
northeast corner of the Pala reservation, “in an area that is difficult
to get into and an area we have not searched.”

People.com initially reported that a hiker had stumbled on the remains, but a law enforcement source told The San Diego Union-Tribune that is not correct. People.com removed the reference in later versions of its story.

A former federal firefighter, Garcia has been a private investigator
since 1992 and has been involved in two other high-profile searches in
San Diego for missing children, Danielle van Dam and Jahi Turner.

One of his teams found Danielle’s body in Dehesa, 25 days after the
7-year-old was snatched from her bedroom in Sabre Springs in February
2002. A neighbor, David Westerfield, was convicted in the case and is
on death row.

Jahi, 2, was reported missing from a playground near the edge of Balboa Park in April 2002. He is still missing.

Garcia said about the only positive thing to come from the discovery
of Amber’s remains “is that Moe and Carrie finally have some answers.
Not knowing — that’s what destroys families.”

Devastating news Tom. I think you are still half correct and we'll find out that Gardner is the creep in both cases. He may not have been the one to come clean about Amber but perhaps someone close to him has provided the tip that lead to Amber.

When 17-year-old Chelsea King went
missing last month San Diego, Maurice Dubois had a sinking feeling that
his 14-year-old daughter had fallen victim to the same killer.Amber
Dubois vanished walking to school on Feb. 13, 2009, about 10 miles from
where Chelsea was last seen in running clothes at a park. Amber's
father noted their similar builds - 5-foot-5, thin, blue-eyed."We're
hoping they're two separate isolated incidents," he said last week. "In
the back of our minds we know the possibility is so strong there is a
connection."

Authorities found Amber's
skeletal remains early Saturday in a remote, rugged area of Pala, a
small town in the Pala Indian Reservation, which stretches more than
12,000 acres in north San Diego County, said Escondido Police Chief Jim
Maher. The county medical examiner's office confirmed the remains were
Amber's through dental records, he said.Police
did not say if the discovery was linked to Chelsea's accused killer,
John Albert Gardner III. Maher did not answer questions during a brief
news conference Sunday."This is an ongoing murder investigation
and any details, no matter how slight, would be inappropriate to reveal
at this point in time," he said.Amber's parents, Maurice Dubois
and Carrie McGonigle, appeared distraught at his side. Maurice Dubois
briefly thanked everyone who searched for Amber, particularly
volunteers."They were the most dedicated people you could ever imagine," he said. "Without them, we couldn't have done anything."Gardner,
30, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to murdering Chelsea and raping or
attempting to rape her and attempting to rape another woman in
December, a potential death penalty case.A spokesman for the San
Diego County district attorney's office, Paul Levikow, declined to
comment Sunday on the investigation into Amber's death.Gardner
was registered as a sex offender in Escondido, a north San Diego
suburb, from January 2008 to January 2010, with some gaps, police say.He
served five years of a six-year prison term for molesting a 13-year-old
neighbor in San Diego in 2000; he saw her at a bus stop and lured her
to his home to watch movies. He completed parole in September 2008.Amber
was last seen walking with a man about 200 yards from Escondido High
School by a woman who used to drive her to middle school, according to
her father. Another neighbor reported seeing her about 300 yards from
school. She never appeared on school surveillance cameras.Amber, who was active in Future Farmers of America, left home with a $200 check to buy a lamb. It was never cashed.There
was no physical evidence recovered, hindering early search efforts, her
father said. Calls reporting sightings of the girl came in, but none
panned out.In contrast, physical evidence was quickly recovered
when Chelsea went missing, sparking a massive, round-the-clock search.
Gardner was arrested three days after the disappearance outside a
Mexican restaurant in Escondido.Gardner is being represented by
Michael Popkins, a public defender who declined to speak with reporters
after Wednesday's arraignment. No one answered the phone at the public
defender's office Sunday night.Chelsea's death sparked outrage in her hometown of Poway, a wealthy suburb near Escondido.A
court-appointed psychiatrist, Dr. Matthew Carroll, recommended the
maximum sentence allowed under law for Gardner in 2000, calling him an
"extremely poor candidate" for treatment and a "continued danger to
underage girls in the community."He faced a maximum sentence of nearly 11 years in prison under a plea agreement, but prosecutors urged six years.

I have had a lot of sadness on this blog with all the missing and murdered children. But Amber Dubois touched my heart like no other. I checked out her name for information everyday for the past year hoping to catch some good news just to be able to post it here. Last night when I heard that they found her, the sadness I felt was so overwhelming that I just had to log off and say goodnight. I prayed for Amber's family, I didnt pray for Amber cause I know that she is in Heaven and prayers are not needed there. She is being taken care of, but her parents need all the support they can get to deal with this tragic end. I hope Mr. and Mrs. Dubois realize how diligently our bloggers here have worked posting and hoping that Amber was found alive. But that was not to be. Everyday that I looked at Amber's picture I felt like her blue eyes were looking straight at me, begging me not to stop looking through the archives on this vast internet. I was not one of the volunteers that helped search in Escondido, but we were here on our computers looking for her.

Amber Dubois, May you Rest in Peace, and my condolences for the Dubois family. You are Finally Home...May God give your family the courage to go on without you. You made such a difference in everyone you touched from near and far.

tears4caylee wrote:I have had a lot of sadness on this blog with all the missing and murdered children. But Amber Dubois touched my heart like no other. I checked out her name for information everyday for the past year hoping to catch some good news just to be able to post it here. Last night when I heard that they found her, the sadness I felt was so overwhelming that I just had to log off and say goodnight. I prayed for Amber's family, I didnt pray for Amber cause I know that she is in Heaven and prayers are not needed there. She is being taken care of, but her parents need all the support they can get to deal with this tragic end. I hope Mr. and Mrs. Dubois realize how diligently our bloggers here have worked posting and hoping that Amber was found alive. But that was not to be. Everyday that I looked at Amber's picture I felt like her blue eyes were looking straight at me, begging me not to stop looking through the archives on this vast internet. I was not one of the volunteers that helped search in Escondido, but we were here on our computers looking for her.

Amber Dubois, May you Rest in Peace, and my condolences for the Dubois family. You are Finally Home...May God give your family the courage to go on without you. You made such a difference in everyone you touched from near and far.

--- Well said! My hopes are that her tragic death will add to the public outcry about these types of predators. Amber's light will shine on these creeps and hopefully we will see some substantial changes in how we deal with miscreants like this.

Students, staff and teachers filed into Escondido High School on
Monday morning, with the grim discovery of Amber Dubois' body heavy
on their minds.

The bookish high school freshman vanished while walking to the
school Feb. 13, 2009, under similar dark rain clouds that drenched
the suburban campus Monday morning. She was 14.

Law enforcement discovered her skeletal remains in Pala on
Saturday.

A vigil for Amber is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday at the high
school.

Escondido High School Principal Rich Watkins said extra
counselors are on campus Monday for grieving students.

"The search for Amber has come to a close," he told reporters
outside the school. "Our hearts go out to family and friends ...
It's a loss for our school community."

Jen Winters, a ninth-grade algebra teacher at the school, said
she reacted with shock upon hearing about Amber's discovery. She
left a red begonia plant at the small memorial for the teen along
North Broadway outside the school.

"I'm going to be talking with my students today about how they
can stay safe in the community," Winters said. "I think that one of
the best ways we can honor Amber and Chelsea."

Winters referred to Chelsea King, the Poway teen who was found
dead last week in a shallow grave near Lake Hodges.

Authorities said last week they were investigating whether the
registered sex offender charged with Chelsea's murder, John Albert
Gardner III, may be connected to Amber's disappearance.

They refused to discuss any details about Amber's case
Sunday.

Pausing for a moment in the rain, freshman Ashlynn Simpson, 15,
said she hasn't walked to school alone since Amber disappeared.

She added that she was glad, at the very least, that Amber's
parents do not have to search anymore for their daughter.

Amber's parents, Moe Dubois and Carrie McGonigle, organized
dozens of extensive searches for their daughter over the past 13
months. They thanked the community Sunday for its support.

Chelsea King's parents, Kelly and Brent, released a statement
Monday about this weekend's discovery.

"We have spoken with the Dubois family and our hearts go out to
them in this time of deep sadness. We share their indescribable
grief for the loss of Amber’s precious young life."

Sheree Dohanyos, moments after dropping off her son and daughter
at Escondido High, said she hasn't found the right words yet to
discuss the loss of Amber and Chelsea with her children. She said
she's doing all she can to protect her kids, dropping them off each
day instead of allowing them to walk.

"We felt if anything good could come from this Chelsea King
(tragedy), Amber would be found," Dohanyos said.

The convicted sex offender charged with the slaying of Poway
teenager Chelsea King remains the focus of the investigation into the
slaying of Escondido teenager Amber Dubois, Escondido police said
Monday.

Escondido police Lt. Craig Carter issued a statement saying John
Albert Gardner III continues to be a suspect as investigators search
the hillside in Pala where 14-year-old Amber’s skeletal remains were
found Saturday.

Moe Dubois, Amber’s father, said Monday that he couldn’t discuss any
details of the investigation that have been shared with him. He said
police have not told the family what led them to his daughter’s remains.

“We’re on a gag order,” he said.

Investigators have openly questioned whether Gardner played a role
in Amber’s disappearance since semen on a piece of Chelsea’s clothing
led to Gardner’s arrest on Feb. 28. The police statement appears to
indicate that those questions remain even after the discovery of
Amber’s remains.

Amber, a student at Escondido High School, disappeared Feb. 13,
2009, as she walked toward campus an hour before class. Until Gardner’s
arrest, police said they knew nothing more about her whereabouts than
they did on the day she went missing.


The remains were found west of Pala Temecula Road, about three miles
north of the historic Pala Mission and the Pala Casino. There is a
single-lane asphalted road that leads up a steep mountain and then over
a hill. The grave appears to be out of sight over the hill.

Two law enforcement officers guarded the entrance to the road Monday
morning keeping people out, and “no parking” signs were posted along
the few turnouts within a half-mile either north or south of the road.

Dubois said he was eating dinner at a restaurant Saturday when he
was called and asked to come to Escondido police headquarters, where he
and Amber’s mother, Carrie McGonigle, were told the news.

“Everything is going to change for us,” Dubois said. “It’s going to be so much different.”

Parents of dead SoCal teen urge new predator laws



ESCONDIDO, Calif. (AP) -- The father of a 14-year-old girl whose bones were found more than a year after she vanished walking to school urged supporters to behave like his late daughter's favorite animal, the wolf, to hunt down child predators.



"Wolves hunt to survive, wolves hunt to together to catch their prey," Maurice Dubois told more than 1,000 mourners at a candlelight vigil Monday night for Amber Dubois. "We as parents and the community need to make a change for the protection of our children."

Mourners held a moment of silence for Amber, whose remains were found early Saturday in a rugged area north of San Diego, and 17-year-old Chelsea King, who disappeared Feb. 25 in a north San Diego park. A body presumed to be Chelsea's was found March 2 in a shallow, lakeside grave.

John Albert Gardner III pleaded not guilty last week to murdering and raping or attempting to rape 17-year-old Chelsea King of Poway and attempting to rape another woman in December in the same park where King disappeared.

His public defender, Michael Popkins, did not respond to a phone message.

The registered sex offender was expected in court Tuesday for a brief hearing to address procedural issues.

Escondido police say Gardner, 30, is also a focus of their investigation into Amber's death.

Carrie McGonigle, Amber's mother, said laws need to be changed.

"I still see a lot of children walking by themselves and it scares me," she said on a chilly night in the courtyard of Escondido High School, near the spot where Amber disappeared Feb. 13, 2009, in the north San Diego suburb.

Police said Sunday that Amber's remains were identified through dental records. They have not said what led them to the remote area near Pala because the discovery is part of a murder investigation.

"Yesterday was my personal time for tears," Dubois told the audience. "Now, for Amber, it is our time to take action."

Amber, a member of Future Farmers of America, left home with a $200 check to buy a lamb on the day she vanished. It was never cashed, fueling suspicion of foul play.



But, as Dubois noted in his remarks, rumors that she was a runaway hampered the family's efforts to bring national media attention to their search. Gardner's arrest three days after Chelsea King disappeared renewed interest in Amber.

Amber was an avid reader and animal lover who had a horse at her grandmother's stable in the Los Angeles area.

Kelly Elsbernd, a cousin, said she and Amber grew up drawing animals together and pretending to be seals and otters when they went swimming.

"They never really played with dolls," said Nicole Elsbernd, Kelly's mother. "They played with bugs."

Jade Fidel, Amber's best friend, said Amber had two dogs, a cat and a bird but wolves were her favorite.

"She liked them," Fidel said. "They were free, independent."

Gardner was registered as a sex offender in Escondido from January 2008 to January 2010, with some gaps, according to police. He served five years of a six-year prison term for molesting a 13-year-old neighbor in San Diego in 2000 and completed parole in September 2008

Escondido Police Chief Jim Maher told the crowd he would do everything possible to find Amber's killer.

"If not closure, we can certainly get justice," he said

The parents of slain Escondido teenager Amber Dubois asked mourners
last night to turn their anguish into action by pushing for tougher
penalties and stricter laws to protect children from predators. Hours
earlier, Escondido police said the investigation into Amber’s death
remains focused on convicted sex offender John Albert Gardner III.

Amber’s parents, Moe Dubois and Carrie McGonigle, joined more than
1,000 people at Escondido High School for a candlelight vigil in memory
of their daughter, whose remains were found Saturday in a wooded
hillside in Pala after a 13-month search.



Escondido police say Gardner, who was charged last week with raping
and murdering Poway teenager Chelsea King, continues to be a suspect in
Amber’s case.

Dubois told those at the vigil: “Please take a minute for every tear
you have ever shed for Amber, for Chelsea and for any other child who
has suffered at the hands of these predators, and come back tomorrow
and take just as many minutes of action in our fight to protect our
children.”

McGonigle added: “We do need to make changes, and hopefully with the
support of all the parents, we’ll be able to change the laws to make
things safe.”

It was the second vigil in a week to commemorate a North County
teenager. Thousands attended a similar event March 2 for Chelsea at a
Poway church. The teens’ disappearances were eerily familiar, and each
story ended in tragedy.

Escondido Police Chief Jim Maher told the hushed crowd last night
that there’s never closure in a case like Amber’s but that their
support helps the family heal.

“The Escondido Police Department, San Diego Sheriff’s Department,
FBI and all the other agencies have and will continue to do everything
else to bring this investigation to a resolution and successful
prosecution,” Maher said.

Investigators have questioned whether Gardner played a role in
Amber’s disappearance after he was arrested Feb. 28 in the Chelsea King
case. Escondido police issued a statement yesterday to say Gardner, who
received six years in prison in 2000 for molesting and falsely
imprisoning a 13-year-old girl, remains “a focus” of their
investigation.

Amber, a 14-year-old Escondido High School freshman, disappeared
Feb. 13, 2009, as she walked toward the campus an hour before class.
Her skeletal remains were found Saturday west of Pala Temecula Road,
about three miles north of the historic Pala Mission and the Pala
Casino. Police kept people out of the area yesterday as they searched
for evidence.

In August, two dogs from Virginia-based VK9 Scent Specific Search
and Recovery Unit, an organization dedicated to finding missing people,
searched for Amber at her family’s request. The dogs were given Amber’s
scent and tracked it to Pala. The information was passed along to
police.

In an interview last month, Escondido police Lt. Bob Benton said
detectives went to Pala and interviewed many people, most of whom were
aware of Amber’s disappearance but none recalled ever having seen her.
Then, in November, a different set of tracking dogs, often used by the
FBI, were brought in to see if they could duplicate the finding. They
could not.

Dubois had nothing but praise of law enforcement officials
yesterday, but he did say he is angry about misinformation being spread
by a private investigator the family hired shortly after Amber
disappeared. He said that neither he nor McGonigle has spoken to
private investigator Bill Garcia since their daughter’s remains were
found.

“Carrie is livid that he is going out and speaking on behalf of the family,” Dubois said. “We haven’t talked to him.”

Garcia told The San Diego Union-Tribune in a phone interview Sunday
afternoon that the tip leading investigators to Amber’s remains did not
come from Gardner. A few minutes later, when he was asked again about
the tip and how he knew it didn’t come from Gardner, Garcia said, “I
talked to someone who knows it firsthand.” He said he couldn’t say any
more without getting into trouble.

Garcia changed his story when contacted yesterday.

“What I said was somebody close to the family called me and said
they had found Amber’s body near the Riverside County line,” he said.
“That’s all they told me. I then said it’s my belief that the tip did
not come from Gardner. That was just my opinion. I haven’t been told
that.”

Garcia said he hasn’t worked for the family in nearly a year but has
been doing some investigating on his own and feeding all of his
findings to Escondido police.

Gardner, 30, of Lake Elsinore, could face the death penalty if
convicted in Chelsea’s death. She disappeared Feb. 25 while heading for
an afternoon jog at Rancho Bernardo Community Park. Her body was found
March 2 in a shallow grave near Lake Hodges, about a half-mile from
where her car was parked.

Semen found on Chelsea’s clothing led to Gardner’s arrest.

Chelsea’s parents, Kelly and Brent King, released a brief statement yesterday.

“We have spoken with the Dubois family and our hearts go out to them
in this time of deep sadness,” they said. “We share their indescribable
grief for the loss of Amber’s precious young life.”

A day after Amber Dubois' mother said in a national television
interview that police were not giving her any information about her
daughter's death, she got some answers.

Carrie McGonigle and Maurice Dubois, the parents of the
Escondido teen whose remains were found earlier this month near the
Pala Indian Reservation, said they spoke with law enforcement
officials Wednesday.

"We had a conversation with them," Dubois said. "We have
received answers to some of the questions that we had, and we are
satisfied with the investigation at this point."

Dubois and McGonigle declined to comment further on what they
learned.

McGonigle was interviewed Tuesday night on CNN's "Larry King
Live." She and her representative, Robin Sax, a former sex crimes
prosecutor, raised numerous questions about why the family had not
been given basic information about Amber's death.

McGonigle said police had not told her how her daughter had died
or how they were able to find her remains.

"Nothing," she said in the interview. "They said, 'In time,
you'll find out.'"

Reached by phone Wednesday afternoon, McGonigle would only say
that she spoke with law enforcement and that she was satisfied with
the conversation she had.

Authorities have been tight-lipped about their investigation,
saying that any comments they make could jeopardize their case.

Amber disappeared on her way to school more than a year ago. Her
remains were found March 6 just days after authorities arrested
John Gardner III, a registered sex offender, in connection with the
murder and rape of Chelsea King, a Poway teen who went missing late
last month.

The murder investigations in the two cases became intertwined
when Escondido police said Gardner was also a focus in their
investigation of Amber's death.

Last week, San Diego Superior Court Judge David Danielsen issued
a gag order in Chelsea's case. Escondido police say it also limits
what they can share about any links they might find between Gardner
and Amber's murder.

The general purpose of a gag order is to ensure the defendant
gets a fair trial, and that the jury pool is not influenced by
potentially inflammatory statements from attorneys or authorities
close to the investigation.